HRW: Widespread violations in Iraq against IS suspects

Thousands of people suspected of having ties to the Islamic State group are facing widespread right violations in Iraqi custody said Human Rights Watch on Tuesday.

The leading international rights group said some 20,000 people are believed to be detained in Iraqi custody on suspicion of ties to the Islamic State. Many are held in inhumane detention centres without due process according to a 76-page report.

The watchdog findings reported Iraqi federal and Kurdish regional judiciaries violations of flawed trials, arbitrary detentions and broad prosecutions.

Detainees are often tortured, not granted access to lawyers and families denied information of their whereabouts.

At least 200 have been sentence, and 92 executed.

US-backed Iraqi ground forces have arrested thousands of men, women and children since they have retaken nearly all of the previously IS-controlled territory.

The New York based group found that it was easier to prosecute IS suspects under Iraq’s counter-terrorism laws, as a court would only need to prove membership in IS, rather than ascertain that individual actions violated criminal codes.

Another concern identified was the ease in which someone could be accused of belonging to the terrorist group. Wanted lists or community accusations with no evidence can result in their detention.

An innocent person mistakenly identified as an IS member in the screening process "may spend months in mass arbitrary detention during the course of their judicial investigation."

Under counter-terrorism laws, Iraqi authorities can sentence people who worked as medics or cooks within the IS group with the same harsh penalties – including death – as IS members who carried out violent acts.

HRW said that when it raised concerns over prosecutors not charging suspects with crimes under the criminal code, judicial authorities said there was no need.

"Genocide and terrorism are the same crime, why would we need a separate charge for genocide?" the report quoted one counter-terrorism judge as saying.